An unidentified flying object much bigger then a family car" is lying at the bottom of Encounter Bay Victor Harbor, after plummeting to earth soon after midday on Saturday. <![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]> <![endif]>

The object, unofficially logged as a meteorite by the RAAF base at Edinburgh, was seen by dozens of people from as far south as post MacDonnell in the South-East and south-Western Victoria. <![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]> <![endif]>

Senior Constable G.A. Clemow, of Beachport, said he and several other Beachport people had seen a large, smoke- colored vapor trail left by the object as it speed past at cloud height. <![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]> <![endif]>

The trail had taken more then five minutes to begin dispersing. Sen Const Clemow said a thornleigh farmer Mr.Neil Sutherland, had told him the object looked like a rocket, with a propeller-like device at the rear, fins and a fair bit of red paint. <![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]> <![endif]>

Mr.Sutherland had described the fast-moving tube as much bigger then a family car.

Beachport resident Mr Gary Chambers said he had seen the object for only a few seconds as it came down.

It looked like a falling star, but in broad daylight, Mr Chambers said it was very high up I thought it burned up above the horizon. <![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]> <![endif]>

Mr George Thorn, of Victor Harbor said his wife had seen the object falling towards the sea. Moments later, though binoculars, he had seen what he thought at the time to be a very large red and white boat bobbing up and down in the heavy swell, about five kilometres offshore.

It had sunk moments later and three boats found nothing. <![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]> <![endif]>

Police and RAAF Officials said they knew of no plans to look for the object, lying in at least 20 fathoms of water.

A department spokesman in Adelaide said no RAAF Hercules had reported anything and there was no sighting on any radar screens. He said the department would investigate but he knew only what had been reported. He said he was curious about a witness who described the object as looking like a "cruise missile." <![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]> <![endif]>

What does a cruise missile look like I work in defence I've never seen one, he said as for the chance that the object was an extraterrestrial that not show up on radar, the spokesman said with a chuckle: "There's a possibility it could be anything, if in fact there is something, but at the moment we know nothing."